A mess of income inequality in Texas

Gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott has spent time in court defending education cuts and doesn't seem open to expanding Medicaid in Texas.

Photo By LM Otero / Associated Press

Gubernatorial candidates Wendy Davis might be more of a
friend to the working poor; education is the great equalizer,
and she's filibustered to restore funding to schools.

Oh, that pesky pope; that nettlesome president. There they go talking about income inequality.

But here's who else we should want to be just as pesky on this topic: Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott, Texas' leading gubernatorial candidates.

You see, when it comes to income inequality, Texas, as they say in these parts, has sure got a mess of it.

This isn't really just about the haves and have-nots; it's also about the used-to-haves who don't have as much anymore. Meanwhile, those who have way too much are amassing more.

Any day now, some think tank will tell us it's all in our imaginations.

Right. Your last pay raise is a foggy memory. Your job really is in jeopardy. And, yes, your adult kids are really struggling. The problem is global, but the discussion here is really about a genuinely endangered American dream.

Allow me to paraphrase Pope Francis. That isn't bounty trickling down and, if you don't have a boat, drowning tends to come after that proverbial rising tide.

Right. It's not like either Davis or Abbott is going to run the Fed. But in about four years, one will be taking bows for Texas' economy or furiously tap dancing around the topic.

The Texas mantra has been that our “economic miracle” has been all about government staying out of the way.

Abbott has been a practi-tioner of sorts, given how many times he has sued to halt alleged federal interference. Davis, judging from her record, has a different view of government's role.

This election should be a test of which direction is best. Whoever repeats that Texas mantra needs to explain why what hasn't worked for a whole lot of people suddenly will. A government role? What does that look like?

There is this thing called the Gini coefficient, a measurement of the distribution of population and income. It employs a range of 0.0 to 1.0, the higher the number, the less equitable the distribution. The U.S. Census calculated Texas' at 0.477 in 2011. Only five states had higher; we tied with two others.

Texas is a job creation leader. But also a national leader in minimum-wage workers — and in child poverty and uninsured people. This suggests that Texas' rising tide doesn't lift all boats.

So, it's fair to ask: How do the candidates feel about raising the minimum wage, now at $7.25? People who work shouldn't be in poverty.

Health care access is an equalizer. Abbott has made noise that he supports Texas' refusal to expand Medicaid as part of Obamacare, his target of another lawsuit. Davis is the opposite.

Education is the ultimate equalizer. Davis, before she famously filibustered abortion laws, filibustered massive education cuts. The Legislature later restored much of these, but schools are still behind and Abbott defended the cuts in court. He says that was his duty as attorney general, noncommittal about whether he approved of the cuts, though he recently said school funding “adequate to attain the status of being the No. 1-ranked” system would be a feature of his administration.

So, to both candidates: Since the Legislature has been inadequate to the task and the “Robin Hood” policy hasn't worked, what structural changes to school funding should be made to reach this No. 1 status?

Let's really listen on income inequality. First, to hear if it even comes up. But, if a candidate says, “A minimum-wage job is better than no job,” that's right — and beside the point.

If they deny income inequality matters, they should tell it to Texas' legions of working poor.

And if candidates, up and down the ballot, see in all this some Marxist plot to redistribute wealth, best to remember that this knee-jerk charge of “socialism” is a sign of flabby ideology.

The many Texans in dire straits don't need a handout; they need a hand up. And if a candidate talks, even in code, as if these are the same things, that tells us all we need to know.